By Chris Williams: The April 13th fight between WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s ) and Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) is really a toss-up fight because all the things that we’ve learned in watching Donaire’s previous 32 fights won’t apply in this bout because Donaire has never faced a fighter with the counter and body punching combination. The fight may be a toss-up but Floyd Mayweather Jr. is under the impression that Donaire will defeat Rigondeaux by knockout.
Mayweather Jr. said on his social media site “People won’t like but I’ll put out there @filipinoflash (Donaire) will win via KO.”
I disagree with Mayweather. I think Donaire is going to get knocked out while looking to score a knockout of his own.
Donaire is really up against it in this fight. He’s got to hope that Rigondeaux can’t land one of his hard body shots early because we could see an upset in this fight. Donaire has never hit hard to the body and I have a strong suspicion that Donaire won’t be able to take it.
His whole game will automatically change the once he gets hit hard to the body by Rigondeaux. If Donaire is still standing, he’s going to react by moving to the outside and focusing on just using his jab to keep Rigondeaux on the outside. But that’s still not going to be enough to win the fight.
Rigondeaux will still pick his spots to come forward and connect with hard body shots.
Donaire’s left hook will be useless in this fight because Rigondeaux is a southpaw and he’ll keep his right arm high to pick off the left hooks. This will leave Donaire with just his right hand, which isn’t all that powerful. It’ll be Donaire’s right hand vs. Rigondeaux’s more powerful left hand.
I think Rigondeaux wins that battle. If Donaire can’t find a way to land his left hooks, Rigondeaux will knock him out with a body shot. This could be a very easy fight for the 32-year-old Cuban because Donaire is one a trick pony. He’s got the left hand and not much else going for him.
Rigondeaux’s main focus will be to take away the left, and with that out of the way he’ll focus on going for Donaire’s soft underbelly.
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